Protecting It
by purple-witch93
Summary: Saezuri and Ikari are trying to get away from the nightmares in their lives. Strangely they both hide a secret, but is it Ikari's or Saezuri's? Sakura and Tsuande want to find out, and Jiraiya seems to already know them...
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

The fourteen year old girl jumped through the thick green bush which blocked her path. Large bombs and explosives could be heard going off behind her. She couldn't run as fast as normal with a bag on her back and a unconscious, weak girl in her arms. The oldest girl's green eyes quickly turned to blue in surprise as a new explosion caught her off guard and burnt the left side of her face. The girl knew she had to keep running if she wanted to save both the young girl and herself, but if she was lucky, she could possibly get rid of the man tracking them down, or at least get him in a hospital for a couple of weeks. The girl's red hair flipped above the large black bag. There had to be a way to turn and face him, make eye contact, even just one of his eyes would do. The girl paused to concentrate on her feet before jumping onto a large tree. She still kept running, although her back started to cramp and her arms were weakening. No matter what, the oldest girl would not stop, not for a second, while there was a large bird following too close behind.

The read headed girl knew she would have to do something soon. The man flying was getting closer and she was running out of chakra, let alone strength to run. She took a deep breath and stopped her eyes blue as water. The bird started to swoop, closing in on its prey. Once the red head had eye contact, she tried to give the man power. But the man had just shrugged it off, and kept swooping. Quickly the girl changed her right eye, turning it into red, red as fire. She tried one more time, knowing she had very few seconds before she would be attacked. She felt the nose of the bird and gasped. She thought both the young girl and herself were done for, but once she caught her breath, which she had only found out she was holding, and looked at her surroundings properly, she saw that the bird stood still in front of her. The eye belonging to the man that she could see was red. She sighed in relief. The jutsu had worked in time. The red head jumped away, with the girl still in her arms. Soon, as she was a great deal of distance away from the man, she put her hands together as he often did.

"Art is a bang," she said, breathlessly.

The large explosion could be heard in the distance and the girl knew that there would be another team mate out to get her soon enough. She laid the blonde girl beside her, taking a breath before running away again. She felt the new power from the man fading from her, and changing back into her old chakra. She needed the blonde to wake up, she would be able to help, but the red head wasn't dumb enough to think that after being in the middle of an explosion, the blonde would wake up any time soon.

But she was also surprised the other team mate hadn't attacked by now. Although she knew she had to stay awake, the red haired girl's eyes were closing on her damaged and weak face.


	2. Chapter One: Washi Saezuri

**A/N: I REALISE THAT AKASUKI SOUNDS THE SAME AS AKATSUKI AND THIS IS ACTUALLY NOT PART OF THE STORY…I just thought a name meaning bright helper and fond of red would be good. When I realized that I was already halfway through the story and I wasn't bothered to change it so there ****P**

Saezuri opened one eye, actually she had tried to open both, but one side of her face had been burnt by an explosion. The first thing she noticed was there was something missing from her neck. Saezuri immediately sat up, looking across the room, which she was unfamiliar to, for her necklace. She found it sitting lightly on her clothes, which were now folded and lay on one of the chairs.

The red haired girl tried to lift herself off the white bed, towards the clothes, yet her body forced her to stay put. Saezuri wanted nothing more than to get changed and get her blonde friend out of the building that smelt like medications and cleaning products. But no sooner had she thought of escaping, she heard three people talking, whilst walking past her door.

"So, you say she was found in the forest?" a familiar voice asked. It was a man, Saezuri knew that, but she didn't know where she knew his voice from.

"Y-yes. But you shouldn't disturb her, she is resting," a young ladies voice replied.

"I know she may be resting, but all the same I need to speak to her urgently," the familiar voice said. Yes… Saezuri was sure it was familiar now.

"Sir, I'm sorry but the child is now sleeping. It would be foolish to wake her up," another woman said, her voice much firmer than the first.

"I thought you said she looked fourteen?" the man replied. The second woman stuttered at this, and they arrived at Saezuri's door, both women standing in front, not allowing the man through. Saezuri closed her eyes and pretended to still be sleeping.

"Well, yes. But-"

"There are no buts, miss. She is not a child but a young adult. We have people younger than fourteen out on the battle field."

The second woman opened her mouth to say something, Saezuri knew this because of the stuttering sounds she made. Soon she sighed and moved out of the way. The first woman followed, shakily.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone with her," the familiar voice said. Saezuri could her two pairs of footsteps rushing away, while two voices muttered to each other, furiously.

Saezuri heard the door silently creek opened, and she saw a shadow reach her bed through the small slit in her eyes.

"So this is what the great Saezuri has been up to, burning herself and getting into dangerous battles. Why am I not surprised?"

Saezuri's eyes flew open for two reasons, one; there was no point in hiding the fact that she was awake since the man had already knew, two; she realized where she knew the voice from.  
She turned around and faced the old man. His frowning face stared at her. Saezuri refused to talk, her eyes gleaming with both fake hate and joy to see a familiar face.

"I've been in Ikari's room. What did you two do?" the man asked.

"Nothing of your concern, Jiraiya," the red head said.

"Nothing, eh? We have an eight year old girl, half dead and a fourteen year old girl filled with hate in our hospital. And you're going to tell me nothing is of my concern?" Jiraiya asked, half laughing.

"We were ambushed, while catching fish, by…them," Saezuri said, her eyes growing sadness as she changed her gaze from Jiraiya to the end of her bed.

Jiraiya sighed and turned to one of the chairs. He picked up the necklace and threw it at her. Saezuri caught it with her left hand without looking.

"Well you're as fast as ever. I suppose the nurses did a good job with you, huh?" Jiraiya said.

Saezuri didn't answer, she just stared at the end of her bed.

"Where am I?" she asked the air, as if Jiraiya wasn't there. Although Jiraiya knew the question wasn't for him, he answered anyway.

"Konoha Hospital. The village hidden in the leaves."

"Where did he go? Why didn't his partner attack us when he went missing?" Saezuri questioned.

Jiraiya shrugged, pulling an extra chair towards her to sit on. Saezuri allowed her hand to travel closer to her eyes, some of her necklace sticking out of the clenched fist.

"I wouldn't know unless you told me who attacked," Jiraiya said. Saezuri didn't want to reply to this one.

"You should be able to leave the hospital in three hours, or so I here from the nurses," Jiraiya said. He stood to leave. He looked towards the girl when he got to the doorway.

"Ikari will be able to leave in three days. The nurses tell me a month…but we all know that's untrue."

"Sounds like you've got one of your own to look after, or you've been practicing," Saezuri mumbled.

"Well, he's not the real thing, but he's got one inside him…" with that the man left Saezuri to stare at her fist, looking through it, thinking.

--

Jiraiya left the hospital and went to see Tsunade to talk about the two new girls from the village hidden among stars. He climbed up the stairs slowly, thinking of a reason that wouldn't be the absolute truth, yet wouldn't be a lie either. He had only met Ikari and Saezuri once, and they taught him a lot about demons and the Akatsuki for money. He was the only person they had actually told most their secrets too, the most trusted. So he decided not to break that trust. Although Akasuki wasn't as lively as usual, Jiraiya thought that it might've been from some poison.

Jiraiya was forced out of his thoughts as he knocked on the door. He waited patiently for a female voice.

"Come in…"

"Tsunade, I have something to say about the two girls that were found earlier this morning by Kurenai's team," he began, sitting down on one of the two seats in front of the fifth Hokage's desk.

"And what would that be?" she asked, sternly. Jiraiya sighed, rethinking what he was about to say, then he agreed with himself to think that it was all alright.

"I have met them while I was traveling. They're just two kids who ran away from home for adventures," he said, waiting for the questions to be asked for this vague excuse for a story.

Tsunade sighed. "And there names are?"

"Saezuri Washi and Ikari…" Jiraiya hesitated at his, "…Dezato."

"So what should we do with them? Shall we tell their home village that they're here-"

"No, no, no. They will stay here for as long as it takes. Then they'll head off on the road and they won't be back," Jiraiya tried to smile, as if this was good news. Though inside he wanted to talk with Saezuri and learn more about the Akatsuki.

"Fine, they shall stay here as long as they wish," Tsunade made a hand movement, to shoo her old teammate away. Jiraiya took this and stood to leave. Obviously Tsunade was in a hurry, she might've listened more carefully to someone else, but since their childhood, her mind was always away when talking to Jiraiya.

--

Saezuri had changed into her clothes, although they were ripped. Her short, black skirt had been ripped at the bottom, making it even shorter than possible. Her red pants had a hole through the side from being attacked from a kunai. The black top that went just below her ribs had a few cuts over the shoulders and one of the hems from the long batwing sleeves had been ripped, leaving it to frey. Her black boots, with her families mark in red, wasn't badly damaged except for some dirt and mud. They were indeed, as much as Saezuri would hate to say it, filthy. The only thing that was untouched was the piece of string that carried seven coin looking items that had holes in them. Saezuri kept the sorry excuse for a necklace, hanging from her neck.

Strangely the red head didn't know why she acted so lifeless before, it's just that something was troubling her in the back of her mind, something she didn't know…something was missing…

"Ah, Saezuri Washi," one of the nurses said, opening the door. Saezuri remembered her voice, she was the stern nurse from before. She turned to face the woman properly. She had brown, short hair and sharp green eyes. There was another woman behind her, this one was shorter and her blonde, wavy hair went past her shoulder blades. She had deep blue eyes.

"Yes, that's my name," Saezuri answered the brunette.

"I'm Hatsumi, this is Ringo," she said, gesturing towards herself, and the blonde that stood, or hid, behind her. "We are here to tell you that you're free to go. We think that all your problems should be healed by now."

Saezuri made a slight bow, and with that Hatsumi and Ringo walked off. Sighing dramatically, Saezuri collapsed onto the bed. She was meaning to pick her bag up and leave, but there was no where to stay while Ikari was being healed. Wait a minute…healed?! She was never healed.

Saezuri sat up immediately, but shriveled back down into the bed after her shoulder made a stinging pain.

_No sudden movements!_ She scowled at herself. She would have to find out what happened once Ikari was awake. Saezuri looked over towards the clock that hung from the wall beside the door.

_Three thirty…_ she thought.

Picking up her belongings, Saezuri sighed as she walked towards the door, her black bag feeling like a house on her back. She had decided to find Jiraiya and apologize for her behavior, and ask were should she stay that night. Saezuri opened the door and walked through it. The hall was just as normal as any other hospital she had been to, and she had been to a lot from her traveling. She walked down the hall, seeing people walk by, and seeing people rushed to rooms by medics and nurses. She only wanted to get outside the place, she never did like hospitals.

Saezuri let out a deep breath when she got outside, and she smiled as she raised her hand to her forehead, covering her eyes from the sun. It was a hot day and Saezuri loved the weather that Konoha owned, not too hot and not too cold. It was a beautiful day in her mind, yet it was a normal one to everyone that passed her. Saezuri walked away from the hospital, noting that she should see Ikari after she had gotten a hotel room. She thought to herself… _where would I find Jiraiya…_

She walked over to some ladies.

"Excuse me, where could I find the closest hot springs?" Saezuri asked, grinning.

**A/N: Stupid wham stupid wham story…anyway, you don't have to tell me. I already know it's dumb. The prologue was short 'cause…I WANTED IT TO BE SHORT, SO THERE!!! folds arms and pouts in an emo corner…So yeah…they have a secret that only Ikari, Akasuki and Jiraiya know…ooooh!**** Edit: Her name changed from Akasuki to Saezuri**


	3. Chapter Two: Tsunade's Firm Greeting

**A/N: Chapter…I'm not sure. Anyway, I'm pretty sure next chapter is when Saezuri meets Naruto, and maybe Ikari might wake up, or the chapter after that…anyway, this is about her planning to stay for three days. I dunno why I'm writing here but :D! Also I changed the Prologue so that Iari has brown hair, not blonde. It works better with her personality.**

Jiraiya sat on the hot spring floor, peeping through one of the holes which went through a wall that connected the boys and girls half of the springs. He had a perverted look on his face, no one else except for him and three girls were still around. Jiraiya heard a slight crash and a voice, then one footstep echoed the room as Jiraiya immediately turned to face the opposite direction of the wall, a pen and scroll in his hands. He waved friendlily to a woman that worked there and returned to his writing until he heard the running footsteps disappear. Once he knew the woman was gone, he went back to peeking on the woman.

Few minutes past since the woman had checked the men's room. Jiraiya continued to watch the naked women through his hole in the wall. He was so interested, he didn't even here a slight drip as a puddle was stepped in.

"I say the brunette is too skinny, ya can see her ribs too clearly," a young voice went through Jiraiya's ear. Jiraiya looked away for a moment before looking at the fourteen year old girl full on. Unlike last time, her smile warmed him up and her green eyes were filled with happiness. Her hair fell off her shoulders and hung in the air as her head was on the side. Her cheerful accent went through her quickly, and that was one way Jiraiya had known it was her before looking.

"Saezuri," he hissed. Jiraiya looked around to find the women had not noticed a girl creeping into the men's half of the springs.

"How did you-"

"Jumped over the fence. 'Course I had to ask the young lady at the counter if there were any men or woman around. Don't want to go seeing naked men, too young," she said, grinning at Jiraiya while playing with the seven coins on her neck. Jiraiya's face changed from shock to wonder.

Saezuri was never sad for too long, though while she is and afterwards when she is extremely happy, she was hiding something that made, even her too, confused.

"So, did you figure it out yet?" he asked her. Her smile faded for an eye blink but reappeared to normal.

"No, but I do at least know the question. I knew there was something, just didn't know what," she said, half frowning.

"Ah well…lets get you outta here before any men come," he said, walking towards the door.

"Meet you at the front," Saezuri said, making sure that only Jiraiya could here her shout. Then she faced the wall leading to the outside, and jumped over it, balancing herself with her left hand.

--

Jiraiya was now walking with Saezuri, making sure not to cause too many looks. He needed to show her a good place to stay, then she would have a quick check on Ikari, then the Hokage would need to see her.

"So much to do," she said with a thinking face.

"Yes! You've got to get a room, visit Ikari, talk to Tsunade-"

"She the fifth? You told me 'bout her once, didn't you?" Saezuri asked. Jiraiya nodded, happy that Saezuri's head wasn't too bad.

"Then you gotta talk with me, to tell me the truth. Now I should probably tell you what I've said Ikari's last name is…" he started, but wanted his life, so didn't end it.

"So?"

"So I'll tell you later," he said, grinning. At least he didn't have to worry about Tsunade saying it, unless Saezuri was being watched by others. But of not, Jiraiya knew Tsunade wouldn't speak about something if everyone was aware of it…and since Saezuri hung out with Ikari, she was supposed to know already.

"I don't see what the big secret is, what'chya hidin' from me?" she asked him. Jiraiya shook his head with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, never mind! It's nothing!" And to his surprise, when he looked down Saezuri was thinking again. Her expression was serious looking, but still a bit of a smile.

"So I am to tell her that I have been on the run for a year, and Ikari is a girl I met up with two months ago?"

"Yes, and you can make up anything else, just tell me afterwards. You don't want me to spoil it for you," he said with a grin.

"It doesn't matter, there'll be no fun. I'll pick up some info 'bout this place, then after the three days, me and Ikari will be off," she smiled. Jiraiya knew that she needed the information about Konoha for whatever it was she was thinking about.  
"Maybe if you ask me, I might know," he said.

"I might later…then again, might not."

Jiraiya knew not to speak back to Saezuri, when she made her mind, her mind was made up, and if she didn't know for sure herself, then it was better not to argue.

Jiraiya stopped in front of one of Konoha's hotels; Leaf Hotel. Saezuri stopped too, then looked up and whistled.

"Pretty big," she muttered, before continuing on. Jiraiya grabbed her arm.

"I'll pay if you tell me all you know," he said. Saezuri looked at him for a moment, before bursting into laughter.

"'Course, 'course," she repeated between her laughter.

"What is it?"

"Thought you might've asked something more worse. Like what am I up to, and some other stuff," she laughed. Jiraiya wanted to ask these too, but knew that he could find a way through the answers if he acted nicely at first.

"Yeah, mate. I'll tell ya everything I can fit in, after I talk to the Hokage," she said after laughing.

Jiraiya made a small smile before facing the lady at the desk.

"I'll get a room for one," he asked.

--

Saezuri had been and left the hotel, she had unpacked her belongings and left Jiraiya after organizing a time and place to meet him. It was five at the time so Jiraiya had told him to meet her at a ramen shop called Ichiraku Ramen Bar at six thirty, there was someone he wanted her to meet. He had made it this time so that she might have some time to look around. She was now hesitating at the door of the room Hatsumi had told her Ikari lay, sleeping. After a deep breath, which was very shaky, Saezuri opened the door and walked into the room.

It was just like hers, sure there wasn't a huge bag sitting next to the place someone had put Ikari's folded clothes, but it was still the same.

Saezuri walked over to her young friend, who was squishing her eyes at random times and growling softly. Ikari's brown hair was short, just reached her shoulders, and wildly thick. Saezuri wanted the girls eyelids to open, showing the brown eyes belonging to her friend, yet the girl sat there, growling uncontrollably. She checked out any marks that were on her friend, and after much looking, the only thing she found was a cut on her ankle this looked poisonous.

"_Don't think you're getting away, un!" the blonde shouted at the two girls. One had just tried to run up to the red haired teenager, but the Akatsuki member had blown her away with a clay bomb. __Saezuri obviously knew not to pursuit after her friend, it would only get them both hurt, so she had jumped in the air, hopeful to landing on the bird. She flinched when she heard a scream.  
"Saezuri!" Of course she gave up and went on a nearby branch, trying to see what was wrong. After seeing a few clay ants, biting at Ikari's ankles, she through fifteen kunais at the man and jumped down to grab the girl as she fell unconscious._

Saezuri had predicted that the bites were poisonous, but she knew that after waiting, Ikari would heal. She sighed and patted the girls head, as if she were a dog…or a bear. She saw that Ikari's fist was clenched into the blanket that covered her. The poison must've been really bad, and Saezuri held her friends fist, unaware of the pain that her hand now felt.

To her surprise, Saezuri saw that Ikari's eyes had opened a fraction.

"Bird song…help me," Ikari said, before passing out. Saezuri was left there to think. Bird song, why would Ikari call her bird song? Sure Saezuri itself meant song of a bird, but to call her that as if Bird Song was her real name…

Saezuri sighed before forcing Ikari's tight grip out of her hand, it was quite hard considering she was trying not to hurt Ikari and she didn't even want to let go herself, but she needed to see the Hokage and meet Jiraiya, and the time was already five thirty. After Ikari's clutched hand soon returned to the blanket, Saezuri left, taken a long good look before leaving through the door.

--

As everyone else had, Saezuri had sat on the seat facing Tsunade, as everyone else hadn't, she didn't fidget, blush or look any close to being nervous. She just sat there with interested eyes, that showed a hint of confusion. Tsunade and Saezuri just looked into the other's eyes, daring the other to talk, or look away. To pass the time, they each looked at the colour, the effects on the light and pupil, and the emotion of each others eyes.

Saezuri saw light brown eyes, there wasn't much colour in them, and she was soon looking into her eyes. It was a trick she had learnt when she was taught about her kekkei genkai (bloodline limit), she had to look _into_ the eyes and learn a lot about a person. She found a stern woman, she could tell from her eyebrows and forehead. Then there was also a bit of caring, it was easy to tell she either had children or an apprentice. Tsunade had strength, and didn't seem like a woman to argue with and keep yourself in one piece.

Tsunade looked at all the colours in the teenagers eyes, they were definitely more entertaining than her own. There was blue rings, and then she had green, and…was that a tinge of red? Tsunade looked at what appeared to be a speck of red near the girl pupil on both eyes. After trying to see if it was red, or just a shade of brown, Tsunade tried to look into her eyes and read her mind. Saezuri was acting very calm, and Tsunade could only see a slight worry in her eyes.

It was Tsunade who gave up and broke the silence, ten minutes had passed.

"Now, Miss Washi, I would like to ask you a few questions, then you shall be let go." So then the questions were started.

--

"How'd it go?" Jiraiya asked, as he heard Saezuri's sigh when she opened one of the flaps and sat down on the stool.

"Confusing, had to remember everythin' I made up. Different from usual, talkin' to a Kage…" she muttered, than swore. Jiraiya nodded, he knew how it felt to not know single thing about himself at times.

"So, what's your story?" he asked, enthusiastically, which gave him a death glare from Saezuri's worn out face.

"I ran away from home at the age of eight, lookin' for adventure. I met up with Ikari two years ago, or was it three…no, two. We've been goin' from village to town. Met you at a place a year ago, gave you some info about a not so well known disease for some money, food and shelter, then left.

Ran into some rogue ninja's with nothing better to do than steal some money. Got caught and defended ourselves. Lost…fifty…no, seventy dollars (not sure what yen is)," Saezuri muttered, vaguely.

"And the truth," Jiraiya asked. Saezuri looked down, shyly, than smiled nervously.

"Err…we were cornered while fishing. The man was an Akatsuki member, blonde, hair up like this," Saezuri imitated the mans hair, pushing some to her side, then pulling some up to stick out. "Alone…strangely. Poisoned Ikari with some clay ants, than I picked her up, got chased for awhile, I tri- _did_ my jutsu on him," she hesitated at the try, even Jiraiya knew that it never failed, "and then blew him up. Man's name was Deidara from the village hidden in rocks. Give ya the sheet, but it was blown up with some other papers," she muttered, embarrassed. "Anyway, but his partner didn't show. Not sure if he wasn't around, a medic, or just scared."

Jiraiya nodded at this, concerned. Saezuri looked at the wall for a moment, before looking back at Jiraiya's concerned eyes.

"Er…what's the matter?" she replied, a little blushed from embarrassment. Jiraiya opened his mouth when a loud voice marched into the bar.

"Eh? What's this about Ero-sennin?"

A blonde boy walked in and Saezuri immediantly gazed at him through feared eyes.

"Saezuri, this is Uzumaki Naruto."

**A/N: I know, really bad. Tell me what you think needs fixing and I'll change it. Also it's the middle of the night so you can't blame me ducks from people throwing dogs at her, HA! You're obsessed with cats!**


	4. Chapter Three: Meeting Naruto

**A/N: This is all about the first time Naruto and Saezuri meet. It's quite good, you get to figure out Saezuri's powers, I suppose…**

Saezuri looked at the blonde boy. His hair was spiky, he had the deepest blue eyes, he was also the same age as her, but the thing that caught her attention was six marks that each cheek had shared. Naruto looked at Saezuri and crossed his arms, confused.

"That's it?" he asked Jiraiya. Saezuri shook her head, trying to get at least some sense back into her. Then she lifted her hand towards Naruto.

"Pleased to meet you Naruto, my name is Washi Saezuri," she said. Naruto took her hand and sat down next to her. At least Jiraiya had picked a good place to go to, Naruto _loved_ Ichiraku Ramen Bar. Naruto slumped his head on the bench of the bar as Saezuri had made a polite posture to force her back to sit straight.

Saezuri was also confused, she could tell there was something about the boy, but she couldn't put her finger on it. It was as if there was a wall in the way between her and her answer.

"Naruto is a Jinchuuriki," Kiraiya said in a low voice so only the two teenagers could hear him. Naruto looked up, wondering why Jiraiya would say such a thing to a girl that he might not have seen before. What if she was with the Akatsuki?

"Oh, now I get it. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," Saezuri said, smiling lightly at the boy.

Naruto was still confused, that was very personal, you don't just go up to people from other villages and tell them you had a nine-tail demon fox trapped inside you.

"I'm somewhat of a Jinchuuriki, but the things inside me are spirits, not demons," Saezuri said.

"Why should you know if I'm a," Naruto lowered his voice, "Jinchuuriki."  
"Naruto, don't tell anyone, especially Tsunade-and maybe not Sakura either-but this is the girl who taught me most the things I know about the Akatsuki, and some things about Demons and Jinchuuriki," Jiraiya said, from behind Saezuri. Naruto still didn't trust Saezuri, she could easily tell.

"And how would you know so much about the Akatsuki?!" Naruto shouted at her. Saezuri looked down at the ground, finding her shoes very interesting. She had a slight blush on her face. Jiraiya shook his head at Naruto as he saw Saezuri's eyes shut forcefully and her knuckles cracked from being nervous.

Jiraiya cleared his throat. "It's very personal Naruto, maybe she might tell you another time."

Saezuri was still quiet from the question, and Naruto started to wonder why she hadn't answered it.

"Yeah, Naruto…maybe another day," Saezuri said, quietly. Naruto hesitated before nodding, maybe this girl wasn't that bad…well he was only saying that so he could go home soon enough.

"So, we were just talking about getting some ramen. How about it, Naruto? Stay and chat to Saezuri and I'll buy you ramen," Jiraiya grinned.

"You know he writes perverted stories, right?" Naruto whispered into Saezuri's ear. She nodded, but Jiraiya wasn't looking at them anymore, he was ordering three bowls of ramen.

"Think he's bribing us to talk?" Saezuri asked without moving her lips. Naruto nodded, soon Jiraiya looked back at them and Naruto and Saezuri acted as if they had been watching him order for the past ten seconds. Naruto and Saezuri started to talk about their favourite things, such as colours and foods, while Jiraiya watched them closely. Saezuri being the one who's back was turned away from him, was getting nervous about him watching her and Naruto talk.

"What's your favourite food?" Saezuri asked as the ramen was placed in front of her, Naruto and Jiraiya.

"Ramen, of course!" Naruto shouted, happily scoffing down the innocent ramen._ Of course…_Saezuri thought. "What's yours?"

"Huh? Oh, um…strawberries and cream," she replied, smiling happily.

"Really…okay! What's your favourite season?" Naruto asked.

"Winter," Saezuri made a far-away smile as she said this.

"Really…mines summer," Naruto thought for a moment, staring at Saezuri, wondering way she was looking _through _him and not _at _him.

Saezuri shook her head, throwing away her memories. "Who's your closest friend?"

Naruto was thrown back at this, did he really want to mention his name? Jiraiya paused for a oment and took in Naruto's expression.

"A boy called Uchiha Sasuke," he said slowly. Now it was Saezuri's turn to be confused.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"He ran away to join…someone, awhile ago," Naruto replied. Saezuri looked at the blonde, worried, but soon his distant face came back to earth and he smiled.

"So, you gunna tell me who is your closest friend?" he said, smiling. Saezuri smiled.

"Ikari, definitely Ikari," she replied.

"What's her last name?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya choked on his ramen.

"She doesn't have one, really, but Jiraiya made one up I think. Hey Jiraiya, what's Ikari's last name?" she called out to the man who had placed money on the bench and was slowly walking out of the bar.

Jiraiya turned to see Saezuri's stern face, as if she was torturing him to tell her a very important secret.

"Um…er…" Jiraiya squished his eyes shut, so not to look into hers, "…Dezato…"

---

A loud crash could be heard from many of the good citizens of Konoha. The crash came from Ichiraku Ramen Bar, where an old man, known as one of the legendary sannins, was being shoved against a building opposite the bar by a large amount of water.

"WHAT?!" cried Saezuri. Her eyes were blue and Jiraiya was afraid that they might go red from her anger.

"De-dezato," he said again. The water pushed him upwards. The girl was looking at the ground, her eyes darting from one place to another in a mere millisecond.

"ANGRY PUDDING?! YOU MADE HER NAME ANGRY PUDDING?!" Saezuri screamed. She was trying to stay calm, but one part of her wanted to shoot the man and bring him back from the dead so he could clean the mess.

"Well, it was the first thing that came into my mind-"  
"HER NAME IS IKARI (angry/wrath) DEZATO (pudding)?!" she screamed at the man, she felt something warm go over her body and soon the water slowly let Jiraiya down.

_Calm down…_a calm boys voice told Saezuri in her head. Saezuri took a deep breath and brushed the dust off herself. Naruto was now staring at Saezuri from behind, holding a chopstick with a hunk of ramen hanging off it, two centre meters away from his face. Jiraiya was soon patting Saezuri's shoulder and walked past her to eat some more ramen.

"Just because _he_ saved you, doesn't mean that it's still a joke!" she shouted at Jiraiya, who was trying to stop himself from laughing.

Saezuri walked over to Naruto and sat down at her stool.

"Ikari's favourite food is pudding…"she muttered under her breath. Naruto found this a little funny, but the fact that her name meant Angry Pudding was making him snort.  
"Two days, huh?" Saezuri asked Jiraiya.  
"Yep, then you can go," he said.

"Cant wait to get away from you," Saezuri said, smiling and leaning her chair back. Naruto laughed at Jiraiya, but he groaned.

"No one seems to like me…" he said miserably.

"Next time you decide to call Ikari a pudding, or any sweet food, I will kill you _personally,_" she said, making sure the personally was heard.

"Okay, okay, jeeze…" Jiraiya said, rubbing his head, it sorta hurt after being thrown against a wall.

"So, you and Ikari have been travelling for awhile, huh?" Naruto asked.

"Yep, we're a four man team," Saezuri blurted, then covered her mouth. "Silly me, I mean two…"

"Wait, what do you mean by four?" Naruto asked.

"I just accidentally doubled the number, sorry," Saezuri said in an apologetic way. Naruto was about to say something when Jiraiya stood and said his goodbyes.  
"Well, you two do whatever. But tomorrow I want to talk to you," he said, pointing at Saezuri. As Jiraiya walked passed them, he whispered into Naruto's ear, "and don't ask her something more than once. If she says something that's seems important, she trusts you." Then he walked away with a lazy wave.

"What did he say?" Sazuri asked, right behind Naruto. She was so close that the blonde could feel her hot breath on his neck, which was quite strange when he didn't like her in that way. _Oh I wish she was Sakura_, he thought, miserably. Naruto turned around to face the red head.

"Nothing much. You wonna go on a walk?" Naruto said, interested in finding more about this girl. Saezuri nodded and they both headed for the park.

"So, where is Ikari now?"

"In the hospital. She'll be out the day after tomorrow I suppose," Saezuri said, looking into the sky.

Naruto smiled, "good, how old is she?"

"Eight…"

That made the blonde frown a bit. "Why would someone want to attack you two?" he asked. Saezuri went with the easiest thing and shrugged.

"Robbers I suppose," she sighed.

"So, Uchiha Sasuke. Do you know if and how he is related to Uchiha Itachi?" Saezuri asked. Might as well ask someone about things. Naruto stopped walking and after a few more steps, Saezuri's boots stopped moving too.

"How do you know Itachi?" Naruto asked.

Saezuri never thought that Naruto would know the man _that_ much, she just wanted to know any weaknesses, anything that would make life on the run easier for her.

"Er…what he did was pretty famous," Saezuri grinned. Okay, so nobody knew that he killed his whole clan where she was from, but Naruto didn't know that her family didn't know, so what's the harm.

"Yeah…Sasuke is his brother," Naruto said. This left Saezuri in shock. Each pair had a certain demon that they would always attack when they failed. She knew that they would sometimes go after others, but mostly they tried getting one that they had failed in. Deidara had tried to get Saezuri after the fifth time Itachi and Kisame had failed. Now that Saezuri knew that heartless man left his brother alive, she didn't really know who she was being chased by anymore.

"Wow…I never thought he would do that,: Saezuri muttered. Naruto looked over at her, then grinned.

"Well, I've seen that man more than I'd like to!"  
Saezuri smiled, this must be him, she realised.

_Uzumaki Naruto is the nine tails!_ She thought. She knew her fair share about the nine tails, after spying on Akatsuki members who had always complained about him. She always wanted to meet him. There were so many reasons why she wanted to, like how she always heard how he would always fight until the end, or once he saved the Kazekage; Gaara, the one tail. _So this is him?_ She thought. Saezuri grinned, he was just what she thought he'd be.

Naruto started to walk again and Saezuri followed, not sure where anything in Konoha was. When they both got to the park, Naruto sat on the swimg and Saezuri leaned on the tree that supported it. Few minutes went by and nobody said anything, until Naruto noticed that Saezuri was now playing with a lighter.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Naruto asked, quite scared. Now that Saezuri knew a lot more about Naruto from spying, he was trusted much more.

"Wanna see something cool?" she smirked, one eyebrow raised. Naruto shifted slightly. Saezuri flicked open the lighter and tried grabbing some of the flame that come out with her left hand. To Naruto's surprise, the flame stayed in her hand as she pulled away from the lighter. Naruto looked in awe as Saezuri used her right hand to rotate around the flame, giving it a shape. It grew bigger and became more and more like an actual thing than a flame. Heat revolved around Naruto and Saezuri and the flame began to turn into a bird. Wings of fire flapped every now and then and two claws were squished into the birds chest. Soon, when the bird was as big as Naruto's torso, Saezuri moved her right hand away and the bird flew into the open air, a speck of fire was easily seen, then the bird swooped a few times and flew back to Saezuri's arm. She moved her right arm forward, like a branch for the birds legs to cling onto. The fire bird land swiftly and elegantly on her arm and she stroked the head of the bird with her other arm.

"An eagle," she told Naruto.

"Doesn't it burn?" he asked, still watching the eagle as it scratched a place under its wing with its beak.

"Na, you try it," Saezuri said, smiling. Naruto knew this was something important. Nobody should show a new person such important things, unless she knew him through something else.

Slowly Naruto's hand nervously lifted to pat the eagles neck. Naruto had thought that it would either burn or his hand would just go through it, but nevertheless, he barely felt something. Using the back of his hands, where his knuckles were, Naruto stroked the eagle's warm neck. Soon the cold air was now nice warmth around him.

"So…how can you-"

"Spirits, bloodline limit really. I have two of the most famous bird flyers in me, but they didn't really like each other when they lived, so it's easy for me to get headaches. There are five bird flyers, and my part of the family is known for getting them, I have Suisaga, the satin bower bird flyer, never really knew how a satin bower bird could result to water, anyway, and I have Atsusa the eagle flyer. Really they're just a pain in the head," Saezuri complained.

"Sounds a bit like a jinchuuriki," Naruto said, staring at the girl. Was there such thing as a no-tail? Could two human spirits be them?

"Well, before this thing gets fidgety, we should put it out," Saezuri said. So then she flicked at the bird and it disappeared, leaving black smoke and a burning smell, as if someone had blown a candle out.

"What time is it?" Saezuri asked, feeling a tad sleepy.

"Er…I think ten, we should go," Naruto said.

"Maybe tomorrow you can show me some of your tricks, and I'll teach one of mine. Maybe though!" Saezuri stuck her tongue out and ran towards the hotel.

Naruto thought for awhile. Why did Jiraiya wanted him to meet her suddenly? Is there something he's missing? Or does he think another Jinchuuriki would be good to play with? Naruto stood thinking, how does she really know the Akatsuki?

**A/N: Am I making it too obvious who the Jinchuuriki is? Please tell me, and add on who you think it is, 'cause you might get it wrong even if you think its obvious.**


End file.
